Future Blue Crayfish Owner with questions

Shaki of Borg

Shaki of Borg

Una maquina with a new tank
Aug 2, 2007
24
0
0
St. Louis
I have an empty 20 gallon aquarium waiting for an new blue crayfish. I've read conflicting things on the internet about their needs. EG- "don't use a heater" versus "they prefer higher temps..."
can anyone help me get the facts straight?

I'm looking to add starter fish tonight. Any suggestions for good tankmates?

I read in another thread that someone had tetras with them...

the one at my LFS is about 2 1/2 inches long. suggestions? comments?
anyone, please help!
 
no fish is really safe with a crayfish, but small, fast-moving fish stand a better chance. or a LARGE fish, but you don't have room for one.
I had mosquito fish with mine, but fish like tiger barbs should be fine, just make sure your cray has alot of hiding places or they may hurt him when he molts ;)
 
Thanks so much! I'll get some more places for him to hide and some small, fast-moving fish to start the tank. The LFS says that it's a P. Alleni. Another member said that they don't eat snails, so hopefully I'll have a few of those later. I'll post pics of my new tank in a day or two.

Thanks again!
 
Someone has a 10g with a large cray and some feeder guppies, he has some plants with them. They eat plants and leftover guppies, sometimes babies survive the cray and live to breed more food. Really low-maintenance, but I'd say weekly water changes still apply.

Btw, I don't think they'd need a heater in a warm spot in the house.
 
i wouldnt keep any fish with a cray. some are to small and will get eaten, while others are to large and may pick at the crayfish. even fast moving fish have to slow down every once and a while.

you will need a heater, especially if you live in a place that has cold winters.
 
Here's a caresheet: http://www.aqua-terra-vita.com/CrayfishWP/Care.html

The most important points being:

* They are very predatory and will eat small fish if they can catch them.
* If you keep more than one, they may canibalize each other, especially when molting. :eek3:
* They prefer a temperature of 50-86 F.
* Keep a cover on the tank. This last one is very important! My cray escaped once and one of our houseguests found him on the floor in the kitchen. He had climbed up the heater and out through the small hole in the back of the cover by the filter.
 
LOL, they are apt to take a walkabout, if they can. If you plan on mating them, and you keep them in different tanks, make sure that you put the female into the male's tank when you want them to mate. If you put the male into the female's tank then she may attack him as if he's an invader. While if the male crawdad finds a female in his territory, he's hoping to get lucky. ;)
 
Thanks guys. I got 3 baby tinfoil barbs (actually one is quite large...) and 2 gouramis tonight to get things going. Hopefully they can stay with the crayfish, but if not, I've got other tanks they can move to. I'm keeping my heater (our winters are very cold!), and I have a lid that I can lock down. Since the crayfish I want at the LFS are around 2 1/2 inches already, I think the small hole for the heater cord and air pump are ok. Breeding is out of the question for now- I need more experience before that can happen... unless this turns out to be like all my previous trips to the LFS and I bring home someone who's pregnant. *crosses fingers for that NOT to happen* I'll post pics ASAP to get your opinion on the main hiding place in the tank (right now my red gourami is staying there). I might need to switchout decorations so he'll have more places to hide.
 
the tinfoils will get too big, and I wouldn't trust the cray with slow gouramis...
 
^ the tinfoils are moving to the 55 when they get big. my gouramis are slow... they'll probably go to the other 20 later on.

-need fish suggestions please!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom